Looking for a roadmap

Futures point to higher open ahead of U.S. oil inventory report; dollar stronger.

June 22, 2005: 6:40 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil and auto stocks could dictate early action on Wall Street Wednesday as investors await a key report on U.S. crude inventory and mull a second profit warning from Ford.

Shares of Ford Motor (Research) were trading lower overseas, down about 3 percent in Germany, a day after the nation's No. 2 automaker delivered a second-quarter warning and indicated more job cuts to come.

Early Wednesday, stock futures pointed to a positive open on Wall Street.

"It looks like the worse the outlook for corporate profits the better it's becoming for investors who are beginning to sense that perhaps the central bank will not raise interest rates again," said Khuram Chaudhry, European equity strategist with Merrill Lynch in London.

Oil prices pulled back modestly ahead of a key report on U.S. oil inventory. U.S. light crude for the new August contract was 7 cents higher to $59.11.

U.S. weekly inventory data, due later in the morning, is expected to show a 1.7 million barrel drop in U.S. crude stocks.

Treasury prices rose, with the yield on the 10-year note inching down to 4.01 percent from 4.03 percent late Tuesday.

The dollar was higher against the euro and the yen.

Major markets in Asia rose Wednesday, while major European markets also gained in early trading.

Stocks ended mixed on Wall Street Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 closed marginally lower while the Nasdaq composite crept higher.

In corporate news, Morgan Stanley (Research) is expected to report second-quarter results. Analysts forecast the investment banking firm to report earnings of 92 cents per share on revenue of $5.7 billion.

Financial services firm Bear Stearns (Research) disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it may be fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its mutual fund practices.